Marking Territory
by naxmachine
Summary: Prompt: Beca and Chloe replace their broken coffee-table, and Beca unknowingly walks into trouble. Also, how not to mess with someone else's girl-fiend. One-shot. I'm lousy at summaries but the actual story make sense, I swear.


**Before I start, thanks for everyone's positive reviews on my previous fanfic. That one really is my first, although I do write other kinds of literature in real life. Rushed this one for Chloe Beale's birthday. We love you, Red! Have a good one. I want us all to enjoy the day too, so this is a present to all Bechloe fans. Hope you like. Reviews welcome.**

* * *

"So you turn down to this street and - okay, I mean the street opposite that - argh. Now I'm not sure - " Beca finally threw down the pencil on the counter and sighed. "I'm not really familiar with the area."

The manager of the furniture store, a girl with straight black hair and gray eyes (not that Beca cared), giggled at Beca's frustration. "Apparently. Because Redhead said earlier that you've been living there for two years."

Beca felt like banging her head on the counter. _Where the hell was Chloe?_ She spotted the older girl still admiring their new coffee table as the store clerks loaded it onto a crate. Beca took in the wonderful sight of her hair glinting in the sunlight. "Uh, not really. She and her best friend" - Beca pointed at Chloe and the slightest of smiles appeared on her face - "are the ones who have been living there for two years. Not me. They just met me, like, a year ago."

"I'll go ahead and assume you're a stray they picked up." The girl smiled at Beca, who was still staring at her girlfriend. Chloe was examining tiny wood carvings at the other end of the shop, the fascination shining through her light blue eyes.

"Sorry, what?" Beca turned back, vaguely aware that the manager had said something. She was then mildly surprised when the girl held out her hand.

"I'm Sadie. I hope you're not that inattentive in..._other things_." She let out a low chuckle, and Beca was sure she meant something in the way she said the last two words, but she couldn't see what. She shrugged and took the proffered hand gingerly. Sadie held on a little longer than  
necessary and Beca found herself using a bit of force to get her hand back._ Whoa, she practically snared my hand there._

Sadie, however, ignored Beca's awkwardness and chose to stare directly into Beca's eyes. Beca felt more uncomfortable by the minute. "This is the part where you say your name too."

Beca glared and Sadie's stare faltered a bit. "Beca."

"Well, Beca. Tell you what," Sadie said, leaning forward, her voice dropping to a whisper. "You just tell me the landmarks near your apartment and I'll deliver the coffee table myself."

"Thanks," Beca said, automatically taking a step back._ What is it with people's disrespect for personal space?_ "You're too close. Anyway, the apartment is located a few blocks past Barden University. Our street is the one with Starbucks at the corner. The apartment has a Santi's Deli right beside it. That enough for you?"

"Oh, you go to Barden too?" Sadie rubbed her hands excitedly. "This is getting better by the minute. I'm an incoming sophomore, taking up Business Administration. You know, to help out my dad better here in the shop - "

"That's nice." Beca couldn't understand why this stranger was suddenly spilling details of her life without being asked. She was too busy watching Chloe fiddling with a tiny piano with a possessiveness that shouted _miniature baby grand let's never part_. So cute. "Uh, how much for that piano thingy?"

"Your friend seems attached, huh? I carve those myself." Beca looked back at Sadie, and there was a look in the girl's face that somehow  
seemed...desperate to please. It was almost Chloe's puppy-dog look, except that the redhead's made Beca's heart go on overdrive. Sadie's didn't stir any emotion in her at all. "You can have it for free," Sadie continued. "A reward for being the finest person I've seen around here lately."

Now Beca was really confused. She's insulting me. "Look, did I do something wrong to you?"

Sadie laughed - a grating sound that Beca immediately compared to Chloe's breathy (okay, _sexy_) laughter. "If you mean the way I suddenly want to fan myself while looking at you, then yes, you did something wrong." She pulled out a phone from her pocket and shoved it under Beca's nose. "Save your number."

Okay, this is getting creepy. "What for?" Beca scowled, taking a step further back.

"You can pretend that I need it to contact you in case I need directions while delivering the table, or..." Sadie winked and Beca immediately thought Chloe would make millions if she taught a class on the art of winking..."you can also pretend that I want to see more of you."

"What?" Beca was getting annoyed. She was pretty sure Sadie was hinting at something totally beyond her understanding. _See more of me?_ She carefully looked Sadie over. Nothing about her shouted psycho, but then again, it's always the quiet, charming ones. "Fine. I'll give you the damn number. Don't text me unless it's about the table, though." She thumbed in the first number that came to her head. When Sadie took the phone back, Beca could swear she intentionally brushed her fingers on Beca's palm. "When are you delivering the table?"

Sadie twirled a lock of her hair in one hand and bit her lip, thinking about it. "Tonight. If your friends are out, maybe we can test out how strong it is - " Sadie's whispering was suddenly interrupted by a dull thud behind Beca, and the brunette whipped around to see Chloe picking up the miniature she dropped a second ago. Beca smiled tenderly - for someone who was going to be a doctor, Chloe was being such a klutz - and then the smile was wiped off when she saw Chloe's stormy eyes.

Chloe placed the miniature on the counter with a sharp clunk. "Oh, am I interrupting you?" The smile was there, but the normally-sparkly blue eyes were now hard. _Uh-oh._ Chloe turned and walked away. Beca's mind was still trying to process what just happened, but she immediately followed after her girlfriend.

The redhead walked at a rapid pace past the stores and Beca was already half-running to catch up. "Babe, what's wrong?"

"Don't you 'babe' me, bitch." Chloe shook off Beca's hand and continued power-walking. It was the first time Beca saw Chloe that furious, and she suddenly knew what terror feels like. Try as she might, though, she couldn't figure out what was going on.

She finally ran ahead of Chloe and grabbed the redhead by both arms, stopping her in her tracks. "Chloe - "

"She was flirting with you! And she looked like Katniss Everdeen! You gave her your number and she was eye-fucking you and - " Chloe paused her word vomit, suddenly slightly concerned. Beca's eyes were unfocused and her mouth hung open. "Why do you have that stupid look on your face?"

Beca recovered enough to close her mouth and speak. "What on earth are you saying? Where did you even get that idea?"

"Somewhere between 'You're the finest person I've seen around here' and 'I want to see more of you'. Aubrey and I can clear out later when she delivers the table, don't worry." Chloe remembered her rage and started walking again, bumping Beca aside. Beca scrunched her face and trailed Chloe, running now.

"Can we please slow down? You've got long legs and you're doing me an injustice here - "

"Oh, I did you an injustice?" Chloe snapped, suddenly turning around that Beca almost ran into her. She flagged down a cab and got in, hoping to escape Beca, but the brunette was too swift and slipped through the door easily. The cab moved and Chloe shifted away from Beca as far as she could. The redhead stared out the window determinedly.

"Babe, I'm really confused here." The DJ quietly spoke out the words, dejection echoing in her voice, that Chloe couldn't help but glance at her. Beca's dark blue eyes were intently looking at her and her bottom lip was quivering. "Tell me what I did wrong."

Chloe's resolve crumbled a tiny bit. "She was flirting with you," she repeated, trying to keep her tone neutral. "And you didn't stop her."

"How can you call that flirting? She was insulting me," Beca answered in the same dejected voice.

It was Chloe's turn to be puzzled. "Insulting - what? When?"

"The 'you're the finest person' bit or whatever. It sounded sarcastic to me. Besides, I can't draw a map to your apartment to save my life. She  
obviously thinks I'm an idiot."

Chloe stared at the younger girl for a few moments, but Beca's face was genuinely upset, not betraying anything else. Then everything suddenly made sense to Chloe. The realization of what really happened gave her immense relief, and she ended up bellowing raucous laughter that would've been terribly enchanting if Beca only knew what it was she was being so cheerful about.

"You're driving me crazy." Beca snapped, a note of impatience creeping on her voice as she watched Chloe doubled up in fits of merriment. _What the hell?_

"_You_ are driving me crazy." Chloe wiped the tears of laughter trying to escape her eyes, and looked at Beca tenderly. "Oh my god, I should've known. I mean, I was practically throwing myself at you for almost a year, giving you pecks and all that, and you had no idea..."

"Are you going to explain what's suddenly making you so happy?" Beca was really irked now. Chloe laughed harder. She somehow loved mad Beca because the make-up sex that usually followed was just as mad.

"Beca, you have just been hit on by some poor bimbo. Poor hot bimbo, if I may add, because if I were single I'd totally buy her a drink. _And you haven't noticed at all_."

Beca blinked. "She couldn't be hitting on me. What for? I don't have money."

Chloe rolled her eyes. It was sometimes painful, how Beca had no idea how beautiful she was. The elegantly-chiseled features, the sharp dark blue eyes, the whole James Dean vibe Beca had going...sometimes just looking at Beca made her breath hitch. "Hasn't it occured to you that she flirted with you because you are attractive? I mean, I married you for your looks, honey."

Beca groaned at the endearment. "We're married?"

"You lost your wedding ring?!" Chloe mock-gasped in horror. "God, babe. I underestimated how dense you are."

"You're calling me babe again." Beca finally smiled and it was the most beautiful thing Chloe has ever seen. She moved closer, threading an arm around Chloe's and pushing her face into Chloe's chest. Chloe tried not to let her heart totally melt, and by some stroke of luck, succeeded in keeping her poker face.

"Who said you can sneak up on me like that? You are not forgiven, Rebeca Elise Mitchell. After all you just proved you'd give out your number to any whore who asks for it."

The word made Beca wince. Chloe rarely swore or made slurs at anyone, which made it so harsh when she did. "You're jealous."

"Oh, no. I'm fantastic. I have blue eyes and red hair. I have a sexy voice and a pout from me wraps you around my finger and - "

"If it makes you feel better, I was thinking about all that the whole time Sadie was talking to me." Beca started trailing feather-light kisses on  
Chloe's jaw. "At some point I thought you have to school that lady on winking."

After the last sentence sank in, Chloe didn't think twice. She roughly grabbed Beca and pressed a kiss on the brunette's lips._ Ow_. Beca felt the  
metallic taste of blood from where Chloe bit her. She didn't care though - her girlfriend may still be angry but she was kissing her and damn it if  
it wasn't the hottest thing that happened to her in her whole life - until they were cut off by the cabbie suddenly speaking.

"No sex on the cab! I've had to change those seat covers twice!"

* * *

It was evening and Chloe had all but forgotten the eventful trip to the furniture home with Beca. She bossed her girlfriend around the entire afternoon to make up for the so-called unintended transgression, and Beca dutifully followed her every whim with an unexplainable smirk on her face.

Chloe now sat on the kitchen counter with a book, watching Beca shelling shrimps with swift dexterity. She then sauteed the shrimps in garlic and butter, and the tiny kitchen was filled with a delicious scent. Chloe sighed. She couldn't fry an egg to save her life, and Beca's phenomenal  
cooking skills was slowly becoming one of the bajillion reasons why they should be married.

"You're smiling," Beca observed, making Chloe jump.

"So are you. I've done everything to wipe that smug grin on your face, Mitchell - even painted your toenails red - and yet it's still there. What are you on about?"

"The fact that I've been so good today, you'll bend over backwards trying to reward me later." If anything, Beca's smirk grew even wider. "Figuratively and_ literally_."

Chloe chucked her book at Beca with a laugh. "I created a monster!"

Aubrey chose that moment to walk in, flanked by Jesse. "That smells heavenly. What's cooking?"

"Pasta with shrimp pomodoro," Beca answered. And, just to spite Aubrey, she added, "And sexual tension."

"Thank you for pointing out the smell of pussy juice." Aubrey made a face.

"This is a conversation I suddenly want to leave." Jesse frowned comically.

"Don't play prude with me, Bree. I intercepted your package full of Victoria's Secret." Chloe's grin turned dark and playful. "Ten new sets? You  
suddenly need that much lingerie?"

Aubrey reddened and Jesse couldn't help but shift his weight from foot to foot, the picture of guilty. Beca whistled. "That explains the sudden increase of lacy rags here in the kitchen." She made a pretentious horrified face. "OH MY GOD I USED ONE OF THOSE RAGS TO DRY THE PLATES EARLIER!"

They all laughed despite Aubrey's scarlet face, until Aubrey recovered enough to drag Jesse away to her bedroom with a "Call us when dinner's ready." Chloe stared at them and was about to say something to Beca when her phone lighted up. She read the message twice, confusion etched on her angelic features.

"Babe?"

"Yeah?" Beca was busy stirring the saucepan, oblivious to Chloe's expression. "Almost done, love. Five more minutes."

"What's your number?"

"What?" Beca found the question so strange, she swiveled to look at Chloe. "Shouldn't you have asked that before our first date?" Chloe's response was a look that clearly said _answer-me-or-else,_ and Beca immediately rattled off the numbers. "9152034000."

"Aww, babe." Chloe's face suddenly changed to childish delight, and Beca idly marveled at her girlfriend's rollercoaster of emotions. _She'd make a damn good actress someday_. "Beca, that's my number!"

"No," Beca said, scratching her head. "That's my number." She was pretty sure it was her number, although she had memorized a lot of Chloe's personal details too. Chloe hated filling out all kinds of forms and Beca took it upon herself to complete them when they happened to be together, only handing them over for Chloe's signature.

"Babe, unless Sadie thinks I'll more than make up for her missed dinner, I think you gave her my number instead of yours." Chloe stood up and hugged Beca, planting a wet kiss on her cheek. "You can't cheat on me ever. You'd give the slut my number and she'll text me and I'll find out."

"I'll give her my email then." Beca joked. Chloe raised her eyebrow, and Beca kissed her girlfriend warmly to pacify her. Then she turned off the stove and reached for Chloe's iPhone. The message read _On my way to your apartment. Haven't had dinner yet, but I'm pretty sure you'll more than make up for it. Sadie xx._ "Wow, that's straightforward."

Chloe pulled her phone back and typed a reply. Before she could send it, though, there was a knock on the door. "That was fast!" And she was off to open it before Beca could say anything.

The brunette just shrugged and started setting the table for four. Presently she heard Chloe's cheery voice from the hallway. "Oh, you delivered the coffee table yourself! What was your name again?"

There was a sound of a box being dragged across the floor, and then Sadie's voice. "Sadie. Is Beca home?"

"Nice meeting you!" Beca couldn't resist peeking at the living room, and from what she could see, Chloe had Sadie in one of her bone-breaking hugs. Sadie looked really uncomfortable. "Beca's a little preoccupied as of the moment. Come sit! You can wait for her here."

"I thought we'd be alone," Sadie answered._ Wow, rude,_ Beca thought.

"_You'll_ be alone," Chloe said matter-of-factly, and Beca could barely keep herself from keeling over in laughter at how Chloe emphasized 'you'll'. The brunette stationed herself just out of sight from the hallway, watching the two ladies seated at the couch, casually checking out each  
other. Chloe was, at least. Sadie was looking at her with a frown, the question clear on her face. _What do you know?_ "Oh. Your clothes - or lack of it - shouts_ I'm getting laid tonight_," Chloe answered sweetly. "Can I tell you how we broke our last coffee table?"

"Don't see how I can stop you," Sadie grumbled.

"Hey! I'm just entertaining you until Beca's done. Anyway, Beca and I were wrestling for the remote. The match turned heated, and I ended up biting and tickling her everywhere. She was thrashing around so wildly, her foot slammed down on the poor old coffee table and it broke in half, just like that."

Beca thought she would implode from trying to muffle her derisive cackling. Chloe's version of what happened sounded so innocent, but it was all true. Maybe a little sugarcoated, though - Chloe didn't exactly emphasize how heated the whole thing went. Beca felt herself getting wet at recalling the incident.

"Interesting." Sadie's face was anything but interested. "What's Beca doing?"

"Making dinner for her girlfriend. Or should I say, girl-fiend." Chloe didn't miss a beat, her radiant smile still in place. Beca searched the redhead's face for any hint of insincerity before she realized, _she's really enjoying this._ Sadie, meanwhile, stiffened in her seat.

"She didn't tell me she has a girlfriend." Bless Sadie and her apparently-slow radar for relationships.

"Oh, don't let it bother you. Beca has the social maturity of a turtle. It took her almost a year to realize she wanted her girlfriend, you know? She probably had no idea you were coming on to her or something." Chloe's eyes were bright with mischief as she looked up and spotted Beca's head poking out from the hallway. "Hey Becs! You've kept Sadie waiting."

Beca walked over with a smirk. She cherished the half-disappointed, half-enraged look in Sadie's face before looking at Chloe. "I think the couch is too small for all three of us."

Chloe stared back, her brilliant cerulean eyes shining with challenge. "We'll fit." She grabbed Beca's hand and seated the brunette on her lap. "How's dinner coming along?"

"Oh, stop pretending you care about anything else except dessert," Beca shot back, putting an arm around her girlfriend's neck and tangling a hand on the flowing red curls. Chloe's eyes closed at the contact and she pressed her face on Beca's neck in equal fervor, tugging at Beca's earlobe with her mouth.

Sadie watched them with uncomprehending, bitter fascination. "What are you doing?"

Chloe lazily opened her eyes enough to answer Sadie. "Marking my territory." She went right back to fondling Beca.

The couple barely heard the black-haired girl stomping out in a huff and the door being slammed, being lost in exchanging heated kisses. Beca had just pushed Chloe down on the couch when Aubrey's sharp voice brought them back to their senses.

"Now I know how you broke the coffee table! I knew it. That story about Beca trying to replace the lightbulb sounded too good to be true!"

Beca lifted her head indignantly. "Dude, I am perfectly capable of goodness!"

"I find that hard to believe when you're lying on top of my best friend. Go to your room. _Please_." Aubrey gave them a stern _I'm-watching-you_ look before proceeding in the kitchen with Jesse.

Once they were out of hearing range, Beca looked back at the older girl beneath her. "I feel like I've just been scolded by my mother."

Chloe opened her eyes. Her voice was thick with desire. "Let's go break my bed."

"Whoa, don't you think you've tortured Sadie enough?" Beca snickered, her hand seductively tracing Chloe's collarbone.

"Nope. I dream of testing the strength of our future bed at the furniture shop, right under her nose."

Beca kissed her girlfriend, a long, lingering one. "I'll never flirt with anyone else, Red."

Chloe kissed her back, fiercely and possessively. "Good. Because you suck at it."


End file.
